EU gives Sony the commercial freedom to go all-digital
Short version: Brussels isn’t going to force Sony to keep making physical PlayStation games. Michael McGrath, the European Commissioner handling consumer protection and related areas, has said this is a business decision — not something the EU will block. Sony’s plan: starting January 2028 new PlayStation releases will be digital-only. Titles that launch through the end of 2027 can still be pressed to disc afterward, so a few physical editions may stick around for older releases, but brand-new games from 2028 onward are slated to be download-only.
The European Commission has also previously noted it can’t make companies keep games playable forever once they stop selling them — intellectual property rules and other legal limits get in the way. In short, the EU can protect consumer rights, but it won’t tell a private company how to package and sell its products.
Why players are up in arms — and which games still get discs
Gamers reacted fast. A “Don’t Kill the Disc” campaign pulled in nearly 300,000 signatures, and people have been vocal about ownership worries, the resale market evaporating, and whether old games will survive long-term. Some fans even canceled subscriptions or posted screenshots of their subscription cancellations as a form of protest. The core fear: with everything behind accounts and servers, you don’t actually own the thing the same way you do a cartridge or Blu-ray.
That said, not every announced game is losing its physical edition. Santa Monica Studio confirmed that God of War: Laufey will get a disc release — a hint that it likely lands in 2027 — and Insomniac has said Marvel’s Wolverine will have a physical edition when it launches in September. So collectors and folks who prefer boxes and manuals still have a few upcoming releases to buy in-hand.
Bottom line for players: expect fewer discs on store shelves after 2027, plan for a more digital-first ecosystem, and keep an eye on preservation and ownership issues. If you care about resale, lending, or offline longevity, now’s the time to speak up — or start hoarding your physical copies like a paranoid collector. Either way, the console landscape is inching further into the cloud, and the debate over what gamers actually own isn’t going away.
